7 Incredible Metal Detector Finds

If you’re a small business owner or someone recently retired, you’ve likely found yourself with a schedule that is either more flexible or more open. This new discovery of time might leave you with hours to fill because, if you’re anything like Jason Hartman, those empty slots in your calendar are just hard to deal with! It might be time for a new (and possibly income-inducing) hobby. For many, this is metal detecting. Below are a few of the greatest underground discoveries made by amateur hobbyists.

In 1946, postal inspectors unearthed $153,150 in the backyard of a deceased (and likely disgruntled) postal service employee who had apparently taken the money years before. The metal detector was borrowed from the United States Army and uncovered jars and cans of loot inside a stove pipe, nine feet below the surface.

Florida’s Roy Lloyd uncovered a high school class ring in 1974. The ring, which had the year 1926 engraved in it also included the initials “M.B.”. The ring was eventually returned to Miles Baker, who had lost the jewelry 48 years before on the pier.

An archaeology volunteer found a finger bone in 1984, thanks to a still-attached ring. Interestingly, the volunteer and his metal detector were at Little Bighorn, where Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s trooped were taken out by the Sioux in 1876.

In 1989, a man in Australia uncovered a 12 inch gold nugget that resembled a boot. Called the Boot of Cortez after the Spanish Explorer of the same name, the boot brought in $1.5 million at a 2008 auction.

An English woman named Violet Booth tossed her engagement ring into a field in England during a 1941 fight with her fiancé, and though the two eventually married, they didn’t find the ring. A few years (67, to be exact) passed and Violet’s grandson, who happened to have an interest in metal detecting, discovered the old ring. It was still in perfect condition and was returned to 88 year old Violet. Unfortunately, her husband had passed away 15 years earlier.

Metal detector enthusiast Kenneth Mordle was conducting a normal search in England when he uncovered a silver ring that had set the detector off. But that was only the beginning—nearby, he found a skeleton believed to date back to the first or third centuries. Though the British Museum grabbed the remains, Mordle got to keep the ring.

Just last year, a New Mexico teenager found a two-pound meteor in the ground. The meteor had likely been buried for 10,000 years.

So next time you’re tempted to take things at face value, remember that there’s something to be said for that which dwells beneath.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/idontkaren/8475596472/)